Same old, same old...

West Ham 0 Chelsea 1

Nothing to be ashamed about but sadly all rather predictable. We lost because we haven't got a fit forward worthy of the Premiership, because Chelsea identified Neill's lack of pace and sought to exploit our defensive Achille's heel all game and, of course, because Lampard oozes class and is head and shoulders above anybody currenty wearing Claret & Blue.

It could have been so different of course. For all Chelsea's possession, it was in fact ourselves who had the best opportunities in the first half. Dyer should have scored after a lovely pass from Tristan whilst 'Arry's wife would have put away the chance Tristan was presented with from our first corner of the game. Add in the penalty save in the second half and a case can be made for us being unlucky. That would be overstating the case, of course, because Chelsea were much the better team for most of the game, but we were cerainly not embarrassed as we were last season.

However, all that said, I am puzzled why Noble was taking out swinging corners in the second half when we saw how vulnerable Cech was under the high ball from our first corner. Surely that should have been the cue to put as many high balls into the six yard box as possible. Just why we chose to ignore the blindingly obvious is beyond me. I truth, we were hopeless up front but pretty clueless in midfield too. Noble had a bad game - far too many of his passes went astray - whilst LBM was his usual self, willing but short on class. In terms of fitness, Dyer isn't sufficiently cooked yet but, even at 60%, he is positively well done when compared to the raw Stanislas and Savio. Up front meanwhile, Tristan is woeful and Di Michele ALWAYS wants to face his own goal. It was so easy for the Chelsea back four to cope because they knew nobody would try to spin and stretch them for pace - which is precisely how you discomfort Chelsea. Again it points to a lack of confidence in Sears and Savio because both were more logical selections to exploit any frailties in this Chelsea defence.

So, at the end of the day, it was a case of same old, same old. We can defend but without Ashton, Cole, Collison and Behrami, we do not look capable of scoring. Zola must take some blame for this because he made the decision not to secure the services of an out and out striker in January. Had he done so, we might have had a few more points by now and looking forward to Europe. Instead, tenth place beckons! And that really would be a case of same old, same old, wouldn't it?

Ratings: Green 7; Neill 6 (played well but the goal came from down his flank again!); Ilunga 7; Upson 7; Tomkins 7; Boa 5; Noble 5; Dyer 5; Stanislas 4; Tristan 4; Di Michele 0 (Well, honestly, did he do anything right all game?)